Communication system facilitating a contextual environment for a user filling various role agents

Abstract

A system is provided for implementing, managing or running a communication or workflow management system having multiple role agents representing roles, person agents representing users and device agents representing devices. The system combines a plurality of the role agents and their associated person agents and device agents into at least one mission, links the role agents to the person agents with a policy chain, and links the person agents to the device agents with a policy chain within a mission. Selected communications may be linked to at least one of the missions with a policy chain, such as a policy chain that links selected communications to at least one of the role agents in a mission.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for implementing, managing or running a communication or workflow management system having multiple role agents representing roles, person agents representing users and device agents representing a plurality of devices, said system comprising
 a server comprising a first microprocessor and a first memory storing first data and first computer executable instructions wherein the first computer executable instructions when executed by the first microprocessor configure the server to:
 combine a plurality of said role agents and their associated person agents and device agents into at least one mission of a plurality of missions; 
 link said role agents to said person agents with a first policy chain of a plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 link said person agents to said device agents with a second policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; 
 
 the plurality of devices each a second microprocessor and a second memory storing second data and second computer executable instructions wherein the second computer executable instructions when executed by the second microprocessor configure a device of the plurality of devices to:
 render to a user associated with the device of the plurality of devices a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising: 
 
 render to a user associated with the device of the plurality of devices one or more portions of one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) comprising:
 a first portion rendering a predetermined subset of the plurality of missions to the user which are established in dependence upon the person agent automatically associated with the user; 
 a second portion rendering a first context sensitive work area comprising a plurality of navigation elements automatically established in dependence upon a mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions selected by the user in the first portion and a current user role, the current user role being a role of the plurality of roles associated with the user for the selected mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of mission; and 
 one or more third portions each comprising a second context sensitive work area rendering content in dependence upon a navigation element of the plurality of navigation elements selected by the user within the second portion wherein the rendered content is role dependent data automatically established in dependence upon the current user role of the user, the selected mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions and the selection made by the user with respect to the navigation element of the plurality of navigation elements rendered within the first context sensitive work area; wherein 
 
 the first data comprises
 a first subset relating to the roles, users, and plurality of devices; 
 a second subset relating to the plurality of missions; and 
 a third subset relating to plurality of policy chains; 
 
 each mission of the plurality of missions comprises the said role agents and their associated person agents and device agents, a plurality of work items instantiated with connections to the said role agents filled with data, and adapted to receive communications; and 
 the first computer executable instructions further configure the server to distribute received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions. 
 
     
     
       2. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 each mission of the plurality of missions comprises pre-defined role agents, person agents, device agents, policies, policy chains, and work items, instantiated with appropriate connections and filled in with data; 
 each mission of the plurality of missions is adapted to receive incoming communications; and 
 the distributed received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions are a subset of the received incoming communications for that mission of the plurality of missions. 
 
     
     
       3. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 content rendered to the user within each second context sensitive work area comprises a drop down menu; 
 options rendered to the user upon selection of the drop down menu are established in dependence upon the current user role; and 
 the current user role was selected by the user upon the plurality of user roles being rendered to the user within the second portion of the GUI. 
 
     
     
       4. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the first portion further comprises a plurality of role context sensitive drop down; 
 the plurality of role context sensitive drop down menus are established in dependence upon the current user role which is either automatically established by the system or established by the user from the plurality of user roles currently associated with the user based upon their selection of a mission from the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions. 
 
     
     
       5. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the second computer executable instructions when executed by the second microprocessor further configure the GUI to render:
 a first pop-up window upon selection by the user of a second representation relating to a pending communication comprising an indication of the another user the communication is from, a first user interface element to accept the communication and a second user interface element to reject the communication; and 
 a second pop-up window upon the user selecting the first user interface element providing a list of devices to route the communication to; wherein 
 
 the list of devices is established in dependence upon a policy chain of the plurality of policy chains determined by a role agent associated with the current user role of the plurality of user roles previously selected by the user and the device agents associated with the role agent. 
 
     
     
       6. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the second computer executable instructions when executed by the second microprocessor further configure the GUI to render to the user:
 a map of a defined geographical area; and 
 at least one of:
 different indicators for each event associated with the plurality of missions currently occurring in real time within the defined geographical area; 
 data relating to a statistic of a set of statistics selected by the user relating to at least one of all events and an event where the at least one of all events and the event are associated with a mission of the plurality of missions occurring in real time within the defined geographical area selected by the user; and 
 data relating to a statistic of a set of statistics selected by the user relating to all events associated with the plurality of missions occurring in real time within the defined geographical area; and 
 
 
 the different indicators are established in dependence upon the selected statistic of a set of statistics selected by the user. 
 
     
     
       7. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the first portion, the second portion, and the one or more third portions are established in dependence upon a device of the plurality of devices associated with the user via the device agent associated with the user and the selected mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions via the second policy chain of the plurality of policy chains. 
 
     
     
       8. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the current user role is selected by the user selecting a graphical user interface (GUI) interface element of a plurality of GUI interface elements currently rendered to the user; and 
 the plurality of GUI interface elements comprises:
 a first subset which are permanent; 
 a second subset which are only rendered in dependence upon the user logging into a role of the plurality of roles; 
 a third subset which are only rendered when activated by a policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the selected mission of the predetermined subset of plurality of missions; and 
 a fourth subset are dynamically rendered where each GUI interface element of the fourth subset of the plurality of GUI interface elements is associated with a role of the user and the fourth subset of the plurality of GUI interface elements are automatically and dynamically defined in dependence upon a current set of role agents associated with one or more person agents associated with the user by the one or more first policy chains of the plurality of policy chains associated with a subset of the plurality of missions with which the user is associated by their one or more person agents. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 at least one of the first portion, the second portion and the third portion are dynamically and automatically adjusted in dependence upon a change of role of the user; and 
 the change of role is defined by a set of role agents associated with one or more person agents associated with the user by the one or more first policy chains of the plurality of policy chains associated with a subset of the plurality of missions with which the user is associated by their one or more person agents. 
 
     
     
       10. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions. 
 
     
     
       11. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 the received communication distributed by the server for a mission of the plurality of missions was generated by another mission of the plurality of missions thereby allowing communications to be routed between missions of the plurality of missions. 
 
     
     
       12. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 the received communication distributed by the server for a mission of the plurality of missions was generated by the mission of the plurality of missions. 
 
     
     
       13. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 the received communication is from an external source to the system for implementing, managing or running the communication or workflow management system. 
 
     
     
       14. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 the third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains is a status policy relating to a status of person agents associated with that mission of the plurality of missions. 
 
     
     
       15. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 a user associated with a person agent associated with a mission of the plurality of missions can choose to not receive distributed received communications of a predetermined type. 
 
     
     
       16. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 a user associated with a person agent of a predetermined mission of the plurality of missions generates an outbound communication for transmission to the server for subsequent distribution as a received communication by selecting a method of communication associated with a current role of the user selected by the user from a directory of current roles of the user rendered to the user by the second computer executable instructions. 
 
     
     
       17. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the server distributes the received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions in dependence upon a third policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 a user associated with a person agent of a predetermined mission of the plurality of missions generates an outbound communication for transmission to the server for subsequent distribution as a received communication by initially selecting a method of communication associated with a current role of the user selected by the user from a directory of current roles of the user rendered to the user by the second computer executable instructions; and 
 the system automatically determines how to deliver the received communication to each user associated with the selected current role in dependence upon those devices of the plurality of devices available to them in that selected current role as defined by the second policy chain of the plurality of policy chains for that mission of the plurality of missions at that point in time. 
 
     
     
       18. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the first portion is updated in real time to reflect the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions the user is currently associated with at that moment; 
 the second portion is updated in real time to reflect the current roles of the plurality of roles the user is currently associated with at that moment; and 
 the one or more third portions are updated in real time to reflect the current role of the plurality of roles the user is currently associated with at that moment. 
 
     
     
       19. A system for implementing, managing or running a communication or workflow management system having multiple role agents representing roles, person agents representing users and device agents representing a plurality of devices, said system comprising
 a server comprising a first microprocessor and a first memory storing first data and first computer executable instructions wherein the first computer executable instructions when executed by the first microprocessor configure the server to:
 combine a plurality of said role agents and their associated person agents and device agents into at least one mission of a plurality of missions; 
 link said role agents to said person agents with a first policy chain of a plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 link said person agents to said device agents with a second policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the at least one mission of the plurality of missions; 
 
 the plurality of devices each a second microprocessor and a second memory storing second data and second computer executable instructions wherein the second computer executable instructions when executed by the second microprocessor configure a device of the plurality of devices to:
 render to a user associated with the device of the plurality of devices a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising: 
 
 render to a user associated with the device of the plurality of devices one or more portions of one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) comprising:
 a first portion rendering a predetermined subset of the plurality of missions to the user which are established in dependence upon the person agent automatically associated with the user; 
 a second portion rendering a first context sensitive work area comprising a plurality of navigation elements automatically established in dependence upon a mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions selected by the user in the first portion and a current user role, the user role being a role of the plurality of roles associated with the user for the selected mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of mission; and 
 one or more third portions each comprising a second context sensitive work area rendering content in dependence upon a navigation element of the plurality of navigation elements selected by the user within the second portion wherein the rendered content is role dependent data automatically established in dependence upon the current user role of the user, the selected mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions and the selection made by the user with respect to the navigation element of the plurality of navigation elements rendered within the first context sensitive work area; wherein 
 
 the first data comprises
 a first subset relating to the roles, users, and plurality of devices; 
 a second subset relating to the plurality of missions; and 
 a third subset relating to plurality of policy chains; 
 
 each mission of the plurality of missions comprises the said role agents and their associated person agents and device agents, a plurality of work items instantiated with connections to the said role agents filled with data, and adapted to receive communications; 
 the first computer executable instructions further configure the server to distribute received communications for each mission of the plurality of missions; and 
 the first portion, the second portion, and the one or more third portions are established in dependence upon a device of the plurality of devices associated with the user via the device agent associated with the user and the selected mission of the predetermined subset of the plurality of missions via the second policy chain of the plurality of policy chains. 
 
     
     
       20. The system according to  claim 19 , wherein
 the current user role is selected by the user selecting a graphical user interface (GUI) interface element of a plurality of GUI interface elements currently rendered to the user; and 
 the plurality of GUI interface elements comprises:
 a first subset which are permanent; 
 a second subset which are only rendered in dependence upon the user logging into a role of the plurality of roles; 
 a third subset which are only rendered when activated by a policy chain of the plurality of policy chains associated with the selected mission of the predetermined subset of plurality of missions; and 
 a fourth subset are dynamically rendered where each GUI interface element of the fourth subset of the plurality of GUI interface elements is associated with a role of the user and the fourth subset of the plurality of GUI interface elements are automatically and dynamically defined in dependence upon a current set of role agents associated with one or more person agents associated with the user by the one or more first policy chains of the plurality of policy chains associated with a subset of the plurality of missions with which the user is associated by their one or more person agents. 
 
 
     
     
       21. The system according to  claim 19 , wherein
 at least one of the first portion, the second portion and the third portion are dynamically and automatically adjusted in dependence upon a change of role of the user; and 
 the change of role is defined by a set of role agents associated with one or more person agents associated with the user by the one or more first policy chains of the plurality of policy chains associated with a subset of the plurality of missions with which the user is associated by their one or more person agents.